>>Those crazy south Americans ;-)
>>
>>You may remember that I coached and refereed soccer for a number of years despite not being born into the tradition. I was one of those American soccer dads who was drawn into it because their wives signed their kids up and the coaches and administrators started noticing you being around all the time. Hey, you, put your hand up, get involved. So I did.
>>
>>A lot of the kids in our youth league on the north side of Chicago were Hispanic American, first generation. I know I have mentioned the kids translating for their parents at registration. It is one of the main reasons I am so committed to liberal immigration policies, even if it isn't legal. Kids smile the same way, delight in goals the same way, in any language.
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>>Back off soapbox ;-) But seriously, if we have lost that vision of ourselves we have lost our way.
>
>Your post made me think about something it had not occurred to me before. Maybe American Football and Baseball were created in the US to protect the borders!

In that case we haven't protected the borders very well against Latino baseball players ;-)

I am feeling sad tonight from some bad news from my daughter Emily. Don’t worry, she is fine. She is in town for a couple of days on her days off and told me her classmate Billy Tobin died a week ago. I volunteered a lot at her school and knew that whole class pretty well, kindergarten through 5th grade. Billy was a really sweet kid. The whole family was/is terrific. Billy’s older sister Maggie was a good friend of Allie’s.

One thing that makes me smile in the obit (although there really is no smiling about a 19 year old dying) is that Billy was one of 62 Tobins and O’Malleys. North side Irish Catholic.

Sometimes life just sucks. I would like to call or visit Billy's parents but what can you really say? And the funeral already happened.